This page explains how Canada Scope works to make its journalism accessible to everyone, including people with disabilities. If you encounter barriers, you can use the contact details below to report them or ask for content in a different format. We treat accessibility as an ongoing commitment, not a one-time fix.
What does this mean for you?
You should be able to read, navigate and interact with Canada Scope’s articles, menus, forms and multimedia regardless of how you access the web. Whether you use a screen reader, keyboard-only navigation, voice commands or a magnifier, we aim to provide a consistent experience that respects your preferences. This page outlines the specific practices we follow.
Which accessibility standards do we follow?
Canada Scope commits to meeting the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.2 at Level AA, as recommended under the Accessible Canada Act. Our conformance target is WCAG 2.2 Level AA, and we use the Canadian accessibility standards referenced at https://accessible.canada.ca/ as our enforcement and improvement framework. We regularly audit our site against those criteria and address gaps in our development roadmap.
What are we doing to be accessible?
We design and maintain Canada Scope with several practical measures. All interactive elements, including links, buttons and form fields, can be reached and activated using a keyboard alone. A visible focus indicator highlights the element currently selected. Text and background colours meet the minimum contrast ratios required by WCAG 2.2 Level AA, and we avoid conveying information solely through colour. We respect your system-level reduced-motion settings by disabling non‑essential animations, and we provide clear, descriptive alternative text for every meaningful image. Headings, lists and semantic landmarks help screen‑reader users understand the page structure.
Our editorial and development teams receive training on accessible content creation, such as writing meaningful link text and avoiding visual-only cues. We test with assistive technologies, including the NVDA screen reader and the WAVE evaluation tool, during major releases.
How this works in practice
Imagine you use a keyboard to read a political analysis article on Canada Scope. You tab through the navigation bar, and a visible outline moves with each link. When you reach the article headline, your screen reader announces it as an <h1> heading. The body text is divided into sections with proper headings, so you can jump between them. A chart in the article comes with a text summary, and a video is captioned. If you prefer reduced motion, any decorative animation on the page pauses automatically. This is the experience we aim to deliver on every article published by our team under Editor‑in‑Chief Catherine Roy.
What are the known limitations?
Despite our best efforts, some older articles may have been published before we adopted our current accessibility standards. We are working retroactively to improve those pages. Third‑party content, such as embedded maps or social‑media widgets, may not always meet our standards; we evaluate those vendors and look for accessible alternatives. If you find a page that is difficult to use, please let us know at accessibility@canadascope.org — we will fix it promptly and can provide an accessible version while we do.
Who is responsible for accessibility at Canada Scope?
Overall responsibility rests with Catherine Roy, Editor‑in‑Chief, who oversees editorial standards including accessibility. Day‑to‑day implementation is managed by our development and product teams, working with the Standards & Fact‑Checking Lead Andrew Leblanc. Northern Beacon Media Inc., the Ontario corporation that owns Canada Scope (Ontario Business Registry company number 1003194827), supports this commitment at the corporate level. For direct feedback, contact accessibility@canadascope.org. You may also use our general contact page or refer a complaint through our complaints procedure. Our editorial policy explains how we handle all reader concerns.
In short
Canada Scope is committed to making its journalism usable by everyone, and we treat accessibility as a continuous improvement process. If you encounter any barrier, please tell us at accessibility@canadascope.org and we will respond quickly to fix it or provide an alternative.